Showing 1 - 10 of 19
Making Cambodia pay for border row
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 02/10/2025
» What I am covering today is a sensitive issue that all economic research houses, both government and private, avoid talking about. That is the economic impact of the border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia.
Household debt plan has many flaws
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 28/11/2024
» It is unanimously agreed that household debt is one of the major economic problems of Thailand. Non-performing loans (NPL) from household debt amount to 1.2 trillion baht according to the National Credit Bureau (NCB). If it includes Special Mentioned (SM) debt (31-90 days of default), the bad debt level would rise to 1.7 trillion baht, or about 12.3% of total household debt outstanding.
Thaksin's 'vision' might be outdated
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 05/09/2024
» This article is not meant to diminish the brilliance of the spiritual leader of the Pheu Thai Party, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. It is to demonstrate that, despite his immense knowledge and vast experience, Thailand's current economic problems are caused by structural deficiencies and cannot be resolved by traditional stimulus measures. One needs a good understanding of economic principles to approach the problems correctly.
Q2 GDP growth may be misleading
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 22/08/2024
» I eagerly awaited the release of the Q2/2024 GDP growth figure which became available on Monday. The 2.3% growth figure, presented by the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC), did not surprise me. A friend had warned me that the quarterly growth could be as high as 2.5%, even though my estimation for the quarter was only 1.0%.
World faces prospect of financial tumult
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 23/03/2023
» Today, I was supposed to present the third article, Managing Household Debt, in the series "Changing Thailand". In fact, I have finished drafting a payment reduction model which could reduce monthly debt payments by 4.6 times without the hair-cutting debt principal or requiring government financial support. But I will delay that article for now.
BoT can't afford to hold interest rates
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 14/07/2022
» Like all countries in the world, the Bank of Thailand (and Monetary Policy Committee, or MPC) believes they can run monetary policy independently based on local economic conditions.
Thai interest rate policy needs changing
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 05/05/2022
» On March 16, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the US equivalent of Thailand's Monetary Policy Committee, raised its policy interest rate (Fed Funds Rate) by 25 basis points from 0.00%-0.25% to 0.25%-0.50% to tame rising inflation.
No choice but to open the economy
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 14/10/2021
» There are not many countries on this planet that depend on outside markets like Thailand. Exports of goods account for 54% of GDP while foreign tourism income accounts for another 12% -- totaling 66% of GDP. The rest is made up by domestic private consumption.
Govt must spend this B500bn wisely
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 27/05/2021
» It is now official. An emergency decree authorising the Ministry of Finance to borrow money to solve the economic and social problems arising from the Covid-19 outbreak was published in the Royal Gazette on Tuesday. However, the authorised amount is 500 billion baht, not 700 billion baht as we had heard from various sources. The spending is divided into three categories: 30 billion baht for healthcare management; 300 billion baht for economic relief programmes, and 170 billion baht for economic recovery projects.
Money to boost economy tough to find
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 29/04/2021
» Wow. What a difference two weeks makes! In my previous article, I wrote, with grave concern, that over 6,000 people had been infected with Covid-19 within just two weeks of the third outbreak. Two weeks later, the number of cases from the third wave alone, which started early this month, has skyrocketed five-fold to over 30,000 cases. Who knows when and how this round will end?